Cochrane's Rebel Comics will begin selling vinyl records and record equipment in the coming months likely starting in September. This will mark the first Cochrane business to jump into the resurgence of vinyl, which has large niche following int he music market. "I'm a record guy. I'm a collector extraordinaire and a music enthusiast and I've probably got a thousand plus albums to myself as well as equipment," said Rebel Comic promoter Bob Dolan, who is also doubling as a partner with store owners Tyler and Devin Petitclerc to get the record selling business off the ground by donating his old records and equipment. "It's mostly vintage stuff from the '60s and '70s and my equipment is tube stuff from the '50s and '60s. My connection to Tyler and Devin (Petitclerc) is that Devin's wife is my niece. My interest in this is absolutely nothing except for helping them out because they enjoy the record music scene so they thought they'd get into the business of selling them." "We've got some stands and racks built so we're just in the process of setting everything up and getting inventory. The only problem is we're right downtown so I think the business will take off so well, as the LP (record) business is one of the fastest growing businesses in North America so we want to be prepared for when we open up. I think the date we're tentatively looking at is Sept. 1." After the LP format was basically declared dead in the early 2000s, there has been a resurgence in the business proving that vinyl records maybe aren't so vintage anymore. Last year, reports showed Canada set records after vinyl sales surged 21.8 per cent. While there has been a minor dip so far in 2018 with sales going at a rate of 19.2 per cent, it contributed to the 7.6 million copies being sold throughout North America in the first half of the calendar year. Dolan said he has a few theories as to why the business has come back from the musical grave. "I have two reasons. The music that's out there in my opinion isn't the greatest. There's not a lot to choose from, as it's hard for a band or performer to put out an album when they only have one or two recognizable songs," Dolan said. "A lot of it is done on computer now. Justin Bieber is an example of the music that is big right now but I think this generation wants music that tells a feel good story. The second thing is after 10 years you lose the copy rights to your songs and a lot of the movies and car commercials are using the songs from the '50s and '60s. They use songs with a recognizable tune that everyone knows." "These songs have been around for 40 to 50 years, still playing on the radio and there's a reason for that. They told a story about relatable events and some of those events are still taking place today. People are searching for catchy tunes written by great musicians. That's why we're (Rebel Comics) are trying to expand ourselves and allow people to do that." Those interested in when LP records may become available at Rebel Comics are encouraged to visit www.rebelcomics.ca
